Mission Notes

On 03 Dec 1965, a flight of 6 UH-34s from HMM-364 were tasked with carrying ARVN troops to an outpost at Hiep Duc, just west of Tan Ky. The lead aircraft, UH-34D BuNo 148762 carried a crew of four and nine ARVN soldiers. Another pilot in the flight recalls what happened:

"We tried to go in as high as possible, though we were limited by somewhat low ceilings, which may have placed us approximately 2000 feet above ground level. The flight was in normal cruise when we reached the vicinity of UTM grid coordinates BY031273 where the Viet Cong fired on us with time delay fused mortars. Unfortunately Capt. Riley's aircraft received a direct hit in the belly, where the fuel tanks were located, and they never stood a chance. Capt. Riley tried desperately to get the aircraft on the ground, but it was burning so fiercely he appeared to lose control and the aircraft rolled inverted and crashed. No one survived"

The remains of Captain Kirk, Corporal Dempsey, and Corporal White were recovered and identified, but the remains of 1st Lt Johnson could not be individually identified and he still is carried as "Body not Recovered".